converged feature writer - reporting with all five senses
TRANSCRIPT
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The Converged Feature Writer
Reporting with all five senses
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The daily dish
•The rise of narrative writing
•A cautionary tale of reporting for detail
•The multimedia mind of Anne Hull
•Detail without aim: notebook dumps
•Meaning in description: The Hotel
•Class exercise in critique
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Long-Form Giants
Anne Hull Isabel Wilkerson Tom French
Leon Dash Jacqui Banaszynski
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CANONS OF
DESCRIPTION
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I. SPECIFICITY
There is no such flavor as “ice cream”
Exhibit A:
Pete blows his big Baskin-Robbins scoop
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II. UTILITY
Journalistic detail must serve the topic
Exhibit B:
The geopolitics of the Dairy Queen
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Exhibit C:
Street Preachers
• In two words, what is the story about?
• How does that drive Hull’s choices?
• How do the details advance the story?
• What are video, audio entry points?
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III. RESTRAINT
• Choose details like toppings: Use taste
• Synecdoche rhymes with Schenectady
• Do not put a cherry on top
• Avoid the color purple
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Homer on the color purple
"Your opening shows great
promise, and yet flashy purple patches...”
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…and not to do
• Relevant
• Telling
• Concise
• Emblematic
•Authentic • Clichéd
• Random
• Verbose
• Gratuitous
• Extraneous
To do
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Overwriters Anonymous
Example 3
Stories that make your teeth hurt
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Exhibit 4
“The Hotel Aftermath”
By Anne Hull and Dana Priest
The Washington Post
2008 Pulitzer Prize
Public Service
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Practice makes perfect
Be specific: Ask what flavor.
Be purposeful: What is the “stuff” of the story?
Be choosy: Select details for meaning and effect. Less can be more.